It’s a hard drive across west Texas with the sun in my eyes. Visor permanently down. One hundred miles straight shot, no services. Moving across the flats of far west Texas toward El Paso, cell coverage drops and I’m counting the miles to what I hope will bring gas in the next forty. Air conditioning …
Guadalupe Ridge Trail via Carlsbad Caverns National Park
Connecting Texas and New Mexico Riding tonight I sense a change in hoofbeats as my horse moves through the desert. A hollowness unfelt before. As I contemplate the consistency of his steps, a barn owl rises from a jagged hole of white strata. Layer on layer of rock descending into the earth. Soaring to the …
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Black River, New Mexico
Campfire throwing shadows across my horse. Dog rolling in the hay - dirty of course. Ever searching for that last buried bone. It’s early morning, the sun still asleep. We sit, listening to distant sounds of highway mixed with propane flames. Coffee brewing. Color slowly unrolls to the east as I prepare to ride and …
Desert Treasure
Caballo Lake State Park, Caballo Mountains, New Mexico The land here in southern New Mexico is harsh and gentle at the same time. You see this most clearly if you follow the Rio Grande north from Texas. A ribbon of green snaking along the valley, flanked by desert mountains. Mountains which look soft from a …
Footprints in the Sand: Horseback Riding White Sands National Park, New Mexico
Blinding white in all directions. Footprints erased by wind. Every route the same. Driving south from Lincoln National Forest, New Mexico the land greets us with open arms. Ranges and ranches go on for miles. I can breathe. I can see. The chaos of Alamogordo gives way to White Sands National Park, sitting pristine at …
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